


The Shape of Things To Come

by meyari



Series: Hospitality [24]
Category: DCU - Comicverse, Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Dungeon, F/M, Goddesses, Harems, PTSD, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-26
Updated: 2011-08-26
Packaged: 2017-10-23 02:34:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/245335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meyari/pseuds/meyari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three days of no food and no water had Chloe weakened but still determined to survive.  To her surprise she's liberated and given her long-anticipated bath by the last person she ever thought would be her savior.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Shape of Things To Come

Chloe sighed and scratched another mark into the wall of her cell with a sliver of broken plate. She knew the count—the guard's shifts were as regular as the rising and setting of the sun, whether they fed her or not, which they hadn't for the last three days. Chloe added a little underline under the scratch to record that for posterity. It made no difference to the count but Chloe still tracked it, along with everything else that she could. Since she'd been captured and imprisoned, completely unjustly, by King Lionel Luthor it had been one thousand, nine hundred forty-eight days. Or more accurately, she'd been stuck in this pit of a stone cell for five years, four months and three days.

When she got out she was going to cut off all of her Rapunzel-length matted hair, so short that her neck got cold, and wash her body so thoroughly that her skin damn near bled and eat a ton of food and… The mental litany died as her stomach rumbled. It didn't matter what she wanted. Lionel had apparently finally decided that it was time for her to die by starvation and dehydration since he hadn't been able to kill her any other way so far. She wasn't thirsty enough to lick the water off the filthy walls (yet, her traitorous mind whispered) and she couldn't catch one of the rats if she tried, which she had over the years.

The collar around her neck was chained to the wall. She had just enough slack to be able to pace on her side of the cell or to use the noxious little hole that was her toilet, but not enough to reach the door. After the last time she'd talked the guards into helping her escape Lionel had made sure that there was no way for her to reach them. They had to use a stick to shove her food over to her on old plates or trays. Most of them were never collected, leaving Chloe with a supply of clay plates that were absolutely worthless for escape or anything more than smashing into bits when her temper got the better of her.

She'd tried using shards of the broken plates to saw at her collar and only cut her throat. There was still a bit of blood crusted in her hair from the last attempt. Her healing had saved her life. Again. No one outside of her cell even noticed that she'd laid there dead for several hours from a severed artery. Unfortunately, the collar and its chain were spelled so thoroughly that Chloe couldn't affect them. And no one came in her cell other than Lionel, who never got close enough to let Chloe touch. What he was afraid of Chloe had never figured out but there had to be something. She couldn't figure out why else she'd been imprisoned this way.

"I wish I knew what you were so afraid of," Chloe sighed and then settled in to amuse herself by flinging chips of pottery through the bars on the door's window.

"What the hell?"

Chloe gasped, bolted to her feet as she realized that the voice belonged to someone new, someone she didn't know, and then collapsed straight back to her knees when her legs wouldn't support her.

"Hey!" Chloe screamed. "In here! I'm in here! Give me some food and water, damn it!"

She crawled to the full length of her chain, staring at the door's window with hope. A startled guard's face appeared and then disappeared as he ran off shouting for help, for a healer which made Chloe laugh in spite of herself, and then for the King which made Chloe curse and wrench at the damned chain as if she had any chance of breaking it free through sheer physical strength. Desperation had her struggling with it when she should have been hoarding her strength for another attempt to get at Lionel.

"Chloe?"

The shocked word broke through Chloe's desperate struggles. Lex was staring in at her as he unlocked the door and then wrenched it open. He hurried in and growled at seeing the collar around her neck. He had a simple gold band around his head as though he was the king now, and an amulet around his neck that glowed lavender. It pulsed in time with Chloe's heart as she reached out and touched it with tentative fingertips. The jewel felt warm under her fingertips, as though it was alive somehow.

"Lex?" Chloe asked. "You're the king now? What happed to Lionel?"

"Ah, he's dead," Lex said as he struggled with Chloe's collar and failed to remove it. "Damn it, where's Lady Zatanna? I need her help here!"

"You're the king?" Chloe repeated because it didn't seem possible that Lionel could actually be gone.

"Well yes," Lex said ruefully enough that she snorted at him. He shrugged and pulled the amulet off. "This… might work. You can touch it so it should be okay. Can't hurt, anyway."

He settled it over Chloe's head. As soon as the amulet's chain touched Chloe's chain it pulsed and the collar fell apart abruptly, throwing Chloe straight into Lex's arms. A wave of lavender light swept over Chloe, mixing and blending in with the healing powers that had kept her relatively sane and healthy despite five years in this hole. Her energies and the amulet's engulfed both her and Lex as he caught her. As she rubbed her hands over her suddenly naked neck in wonder, Lex supported her and held her close, though he did look like he was doing his best not to breathe too deeply.

"It's gone," Chloe whispered. "Five years, four months, three days and it's finally gone."

"You've been here all along?" Lex asked with so much pain in his voice that Chloe stared at him. "I tried to find you but neither Clark nor I could locate you after you disappeared."

"Is… he all right?" Chloe asked.

She hoped that he was but after five years with no rescue Chloe found it hard to believe that Clark could be okay. He'd always saved her and then suddenly she'd been taken and no one had come. The first few months had been an agony of anticipation for a rescue that never came. Lex sighed and picked Chloe up so that he could carry her out of the cell.

"He… I had to take him as a slave to protect him from Lionel right after you disappeared," Lex said sadly. "It wasn't enough. I ended up giving him to my old friend Lord Bruce Wayne. He's been Lord Bruce's slave for four and a half years now."

"Clark?" Chloe gasped. She studiously ignored the guards staring at the two of them. Given how filthy she was she didn't blame them for staring, and well, there was the carrying thing. "He's a slave?"

"Mmm-hmm," Lex sighed. "They're… very happy together."

"Oh Lex," Chloe breathed.

He smiled sadly. Chloe could feel his sorrow, the deep sense of loss and abiding hopeless love that matched very closely to how Chloe felt about Clark. No matter what her heart had wanted, she'd never had a chance with him and she knew it. Lex seemed to feel the same way now. She blinked and then realized that her hands were resting on the lavender amulet. It seemed to allow her to tell what Lex and the guards around them were feeling. Their awe and respect seemed to be equally for Lex and for Chloe, which was strange.

"Where did you get this?" Chloe asked as she held up the amulet.

"Ah, indirectly from the Amazon's Goddess, Aphrodite," Lex said.

The image of Clark in some sort of beautiful golden and scarlet armor with a blue cape appeared in Chloe's mind, along with that same regret coupled with a sense of satisfaction that overwhelmed the loss in Lex's heart. Clark was surrounded by other people in costumes, bright armor, each of them looking like heroes from legend. In Lex's mind they were the best and the brightest, the true salvation of the world where he was just the one who came along and cleaned up Lionel's messes.

Chloe stared at Lex, barely even noticing when they emerged from the dungeons out into the light. People called at Lex, surprise and awe in their voices. The amulet let her catch glimpses of their emotions and thoughts too, especially the knowledge that her being able to wear the amulet was hugely significant to the point that a few of them were almost in a panic. Most of them felt awe, both for Lex and for Chloe.

"Wait a minute," Chloe squawked as she realized where the awe flowing at her was coming from, "no one else has been able to touch this thing?"

Lex grinned at her. "Nope, just Superman, me and you, Chloe."

"You're not making me your slave," Chloe said with a ferocious glare at Lex that didn't seem to affect him at all.

"Actually I was thinking more like wife," Lex said so casually that she snorted at him. He put on a faintly mocking expression that hid the spike of hurt that she'd turned him down so casually.

"You're not proposing to me when I'm this filthy," Chloe declared ferociously enough that he laughed and the hurt disappeared in amusement. "I expect baths, a haircut and diamonds if you're going to propose."

"I can arrange all of those," Lex said with a huge grin. He walked into a huge bathroom that made Chloe coo, setting her down by the tub. "Plus food and a healer."

"I am a healer," Chloe sighed. "I think that's why Lionel wanted me. Well, maybe. He was… it was like he was afraid to let me touch him, like he was hiding something inside of him that he was afraid I'd reveal."

The spike of horror that came from Lex made Chloe shudder. She pulled off the amulet and passed it back to Lex who took it with a gracious nod of his head. His eyes were intent on her face as he touched the amulet at the same time Chloe did. There was a little chiming noise and another flare of lavender energy that swept over the two of them. Chloe gasped at the huge wave of love and protectiveness that swept through her. Lex staggered as well, his eyes wide.

"Um, Aphrodite?" Chloe asked, plopping down on the edge of the tub.

"Yes," Lex said, staring at the amulet and then at Chloe.

"Meddling?" Chloe asked.

"I suspect so," Lex sighed. "If you want I can ignore that."

"I have no idea what you felt, Lex," Chloe said with a blush that he probably couldn't see through the filth on her cheeks. "But I can do the same if you'd like."

Lex swallowed hard before rubbing the back of his neck nervously. He didn't look like he wanted to let it go. Chloe wasn't sure that she wanted to either but that hardly mattered when she finally had a bath and potential food and even more incredibly her freedom. There was time after she got clean.

"Go away and get me some scissors," Chloe told Lex in a tone that was a preemptory order even though she was sure her eyes were pleading with him. "I want to cut this mess of hair off and get really, really clean."

"Yes, ma'am," Lex said as he grinned. "Go ahead and get started. I'll send one of the women in to help you with your hair."

"Hmm, and probably someone to clean the tub," Chloe said while examining her filthy arms. "It's going to be vile."

Lex grinned and left Chloe alone. He left the door cracked open as if he was completely aware of how uncomfortable she was with the thought of being closed in, even in a bathroom with a huge window across from the bathtub. She thought about the amulet and realized that he might be aware of her borderline claustrophobia at that. Getting clean took a couple of hours, several rounds of bathing and cleaning the tub, and a full bar of soap. The maid cut Chloe's hair willingly enough, even though she obviously thought that Chloe was crazy for wanting to cut it so short that her ears showed and it spiked on her head.

Once clean she dressed in the beautiful blue dress Lex provided and left the bathroom to find Lex there with a mountain of food, several histories of the last few years and a smile that was all for Chloe. She asked questions while eating, getting the lay of the land as it was now.

Lionel's destruction of the country didn't surprise Chloe. The people who had risen up to oppose him did. She'd been aware of Clark's gifts practically from the time he developed them and she'd learned fairly young that she had gifts as well. That people could use their gifts in such spectacular ways amazed and delighted her. It was a pity that she'd missed it all developing, but thinking about that wasn't helpful in anyway.

Finally she leaned back in her chair and frowned at Lex. He sat calmly and let her stare at him. There were so many things she wanted to do, places she wanted to see, but one person resonated in her mind.

"I want to see Clark," Chloe told him. She needed to see that he was okay and hear from his lips that he was okay. Plus she wanted to pump him for information about Superman, Batman and all the rest of the heroes of the new Justice League.

"That shouldn't be too much of a problem," Lex said with a quirk of his lips that made her doubt that. "Bruce is rather busy dealing with a surprise heir but I'm sure he'll let you see Clark easily enough. You won't be allowed in the harem but he does let Clark out."

"Harem?" Chloe asked with a little frown. "He keeps Clark in a harem?"

Lex grinned at her outrage. "It's actually quite beautiful. One side is a solarium. Clark has a rose garden that's all his. Bruce never allows women in the harem though so you won't get to see it."

She shook her head at the oddity of that, blinking as a thought occurred to her. "If he doesn't want women how the heck can he have an heir?"

"Ah, that's the question of the hour," Lex said with a grin that made her laugh. "There are precisely two women that he's known to have been involved with. Lady Selina's never had any children despite her occasional liaisons with Bruce. Lady Talia al Ghul is the other. She is claiming that he fathered her son Damian. Bruce is… investigating that currently."

"And the entire country is gossiping about it," Chloe sighed. "Lovely. Oh well, I still want to see Clark, even if I have to brave the gossip to do it."

"As you wish," Lex said with a nod that he'd make it happen.

Chloe sighed. She'd missed so much, years of her life, of everyone else's lives. It was scary thinking about how hard it would be to reclaim her world but there wasn't much else she could do. Given her healing gifts she'd just keep on living whether she wanted to or not. Lex reached out and tentatively put his hand over Chloe's. He looked concerned and the amulet was pulsing in time with Chloe's heart again.

"Stop that," Chloe snapped at the amulet which blinked in surprise. "Don't you dare try and match-make us. We'll find our own ways. We don't need your help."

Bell-like feminine laughter filled the room, startling both Chloe and Lex. The one servant hovering in the background gasped and fell to her knees. For a moment Chloe had the impression of a woman hugging her and kissing her cheek, and then she felt like herself again.

"I think She thinks She's got the right to meddle," Lex said ruefully. He hadn't moved his hand and Chloe didn't pull away. "She did help me gain the throne."

"Still don't need the help," Chloe huffed because she wasn't ready to go straight from her cell to wearing a crown. That seemed entirely too much like exchanging a literal cage for a gilded metaphorical one.

"Granted," Lex chuckled.

"So," Chloe said as she curled her fingers around Lex's, "tell me about politics. How's that going now?"

Lex groaned and rolled his eyes at the question but his hand squeezed hers almost tenderly. No, they didn't need any help, Chloe thought. They'd both been trapped for years, both been dealing with the worst that Lionel, Darkseid, could lay on them and they both had lost any chance they had with Clark long, long ago.

'No,' Chloe thought, 'No help needed. We'll find our own way and do our best, no gods required.'


End file.
